NO. lO NEBRASKA ARCHEOLOGY STRONG 283 



defined in regard to the general distribution of the prehistoric cultures 

 within its boundaries. Of the other States we know something con- 

 cerning isolated sites or limited areas, but as a whole they represent 

 glaring blind spots in the field of archeological vision. Such being the 

 case, all that the following purports to be is a rapid and admittedly 

 incomplete sketch of such salient points in the archeology of the 

 adjacent States as seem at present to have a direct bearing on the 

 problems discussed in this paper. 



Kansas, to judge from the scattered literature available, is an ex- 

 tremely promising archeological field which has to the present received 

 nothing even approaching systematic investigation. However, interest- 

 ing features stand out. Particularly noteworthy is Udden's excellent 

 description and illustrations of a protohistoric village site on Paint 

 Creek in McPherson County."" This site is marked by low mounds of 

 refuse apparently similar to those at the Burkett site in Nebraska, 

 and the culture revealed at the Paint Creek site also strongly suggests 

 the protohistoric Pawnee culture. Pottery was abundant at the site, 

 and certain rim sherds figured are definitely of the advanced and 

 complexly incised protohistoric Pawnee type. In addition, a small 

 proportion of sherds with red stain on the concave surface were noted. 

 The occurrence of a few sherds suggesting flat-bottomed pots and 

 some with elaborate incisions on the body tends to set the Paint Creek 

 site somewhat apart, but the remainder of the Paint Creek artifact 

 complex seems very similar to the protohistoric Pawnee culture in 

 Nebraska. The protohistoric age of the Paint Creek site is indicated 

 by the absence of white man's artifacts except for what is apparently 

 a small piece of chain mail found 6 inches below the surface of one 

 of the mounds, and two blue glass beads which were also found at the 

 site. P'rom Udden's very clear and dispassionate treatment of these 

 finds it would seem that their authenticity may be fully accepted. This 

 discovery of very early white contacts in a Kansas site so similar to 

 the protohistoric Pawnee villages in Nebraska reinforces the con- 

 clusions independently arrived at that this culture was flourishing 

 about the time of the Coronado expedition of 1541. 



In Brower's brief description of the Griffing site in Riley County, 

 Kans., there is a strong suggestion of the Upper Republican or " pre- 



"' J. A. Udden, 1900. Hill and Wedel have since investigated this site. Wedel 

 corroborates its protohistoric age but finds such distinctive differences from the 

 Lower Loup Aspect that he has designated the cultural type as the Great Bend 

 (Smoky Hill) Aspect, of the Central Plains Phase (Wedel, 1935, HI and IV). 

 Wedel's papers, including 193S, H, mark a front-line attack on the important 

 problem of Kansas prehistory. 



